Mechanical molding device



B. A. SHUTTS AND J. 0. GOODWIN.

MECHANICAL MOLDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED. AUGJB, [91.9.

Patented Apr. 27, 1920.

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B. A. SHUTTS AND J. 0. eoonwm.

MECHANICAL MOLDING DEVICE.

AP PLICATiON FlLED, AUGJB, 1919.

1,33 1 2, Patent (5d Apr. 27, 1920.

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I Inve tom My. By Attorneys 09m BURTON A. SHUTTS AND JOHN 0. GOODWIN, OF HOLT, ALABAMA.

MECHANICAL MoLDING DEvICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2'7, 1920.

Application filed August 18, 1919. Serial No. 318,094.

To all whom it, may concern Be it known that We, BURTON A. SHUTTS and JOHN O. GooDWIN, citizens of the United States, residing at I-Iolt, Alabama, in the county of Tuscaloosa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanical Molding Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In the ordinary process of casting pig iron from blast furnaces, it is customary to use a sand floor having a slight inclination from the furnace, in the successive levels of which the molders form lateral sow molds from a central runner or trough from the furnace and series of pig molds connected with the sow molds. The molten iron is run down the trough to the most remote sow mold into which it is diverted and flowed until those molds and their connected pig molds have all been filled, after which it is diverted into the next higher pair of sow molds and so on.

This process requires the services of a number of molders, which number is proportional to the capacity of the plant, and after each casting the molds must all be remade by hand, an arduous, time-consuming and expensive operation.

e have sought to obviate this objection by producing a purely mechanical molding device which will do the work of a number of men. The conditions of operation, the requirements of the process and the demands of the market are such as to render this undertaking one of great difficulty, but by means of the device which we have devised and which we shall now show and describe as the invention upon which this application for letters patent is based, we have succeeded in meeting all of such requirements and produced a labor-saving machine of great value in the art.

In'the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of the molding device which we have constructed illustrating the manner in which the same is to be used.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a sand floor showing the molds and our improved device in operation.

In carrying out our invention we build a hollow and preferably approximately circular structure with four faces or sides, four being the most convenient although an arbitrary number. The main frame, or body 1 of this device may be built of sheet steel, iron or other appropriate material and by means of substantial spokes 2 is mounted on a central shaft 8. On the exterior surface of the four faces there are secured wooden or other patterns 4 for the pig and smaller patterns 5 for the sow molds.

'To the central shaft is attached a bail 6 to which chains or ropes T are connected and by means of which the device may be dragged and rolled over the sand floor. In order to impart to the device suflicient weight when required, we mount on the central shaft a weight 8 or a basket for containing weights. The means shown for moving the device over the sand floor is not of the essence of the invention, as any other device, such as a crane, might be used for the same purpose.

The molding device thus constructed is used in the following manner. The sand floor is prepared as usual giving it the proper slope, the molding machine is then moved or drawn up over the floor forming the beds. The patterns impress in the sand the proper cavities to form the pig and the lateral sow molds and usually the central runner or trough is made by hand. After the molds are thus formed but little work is required for cleaning, connecting or damming them, whereby they are put in proper condition for use. After one casting is made, the labor required for cleaning the floor for a second casting is slight in amount and by the use of the machine a great savin in the expense of the process is effected.

The dimensions of the device may obviously be varied to meet the conditions and capacity of the plant and the width of the floor with which it is to be used. These and other details of the invention will be readily.

' with pig and sow molding patterns secured to said faces, whereby the molds in a sloping sand floor may be formed at their proper levels by rolling the device upon and over a suitably prepared floor.

2. In a mechanical molding device for making pig beds for casting pig iron the combination of a four sided and weighted frame adapted to be drawn and rolled directly upon'and over a sand floor, of pig and sow patterns forming projections secured to the four sides, a bail or attachment to the shaft by which the device may be drawn upon and over a suitably prepared sand floor, so that each pig bed will be formed level on the sloping floor.

3. The combination With a polygonal and 10 weighted frame having faces the Width of the sand floor for casting pig iron, means for rolling said device directly upon and over such floor and projecting patterns secured to its faces for forming in the sand,

BURTON A; SHUTTS. JOHN o. GOODWIN. 

